Africell Lintel Sierra Leone in its stride to promote sports in the country especially Football has yesterday Tuesday 27th November 2007 convened a press conference to declare to journalist that they are going to take over the entire Premier Football Competitions throughout Sierra Leone.

At the Press Conference held at the luxurious Country Lodge Complex up the cool airy Hill Station prestigious area, the Commercial Director of Africell (Lintel Sierra Leone), Joe Amara Bangali (Jnr) disclosed that the company decided to sponsor the Sierra Leone Premier Football League on a long term basis and as a result the league will now be known as the Africell Premier League.

Mr. Bangali said that by sponsoring the Premier League, their aim was to help develop home grown football talents which would further develop the competitive nature of the league and also help increase the country’s success rate at international football competitions. He said that competitive sports is a sector which Africell is keen to help develop in Sierra Leone.

In his reaction, the President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Nahim Khadi thanked Africell for their timely intervention especially at the time when the Sierra Leone Commercial who had been the official sponsors of the Premier League, decided to withdraw from the league. He said that football was all about money and without money, both football and sports in general cannot develop further.

Nahim therefore called for unity amongst the officials noting that with unity everything can be achieved. Mr. Khadi said that Africell was really making an impact in the country especially in the sporting field and therefore as Sierra Leoneans, we must commend Africell for their corporate responsibility to the nation and ensure that the company thrives by using their services.

According to one of the football stake holders in the country, Nat Johnson, the entire football community of Sierra Leone was grateful to Africell for what he described as the "right step in the right direction" that had been taken by Africell.

Nat Johnson also thanked SLFA especially the President Nahim Khadi for his initiative to approach Africell to sponsor the league so that Sierra Leonean football fans might have the chance to watch their celebrities on the field once more. He called on more and more citizens especially football lovers to continue to patronize Africell.